$1.99 sparkplugs went 100k

[Tim Hancock]

I always buy cheap standard spark plugs (usually NGK or Bosch) as I do not buy into the hype of the fancy $8-$10 a piece plugs. Well the old trusty 307k mileage daily driver BMW E36 325i started misfiring last week and today with the AC on, I was not sure it was going to make it all the way home from work. I stopped at the local Autozone and picked up a set of plugs hoping it would fix me up again..... Yep... problem solved... it runs PERFECT again. I swear this car will not die. I put one set of spark plugs (cheap Champions) and one airfilter in this car since I bought it with 140k on the clock. It has had the mileage go over 15k several times between non-synthetic Castrol 20w50 oil changes in recent years. It puts a grin on my face everytime I think about folks who change their oil every 3000 miles and their sparkplugs/airfilter every year.

I stole this car for 5 grand back in '98.... best car for the money I have ever owned bar none. I hope my wife's '03 330i ends up being just as reliable (At about 100k it is still on it's original plugs afaik and I change it's synthetic oil every 7-10k).

These old plugs measured about .060" gap (supposed to be .035"). I think they deserve to be put out of their misery.

[crustychief]

Happy car! I had a couple of happy cars that rarely needed anything. Then there is the angry, angry Landrover! Just kidding, it just needs a little more attention but nothing too bad.

[Embraer]

i paid $400 for an E30 as my airport car last fall.....i don't even drive the other cars. over 220K miles on mine.....20K since last september.

I was hit back in january by a teenager....her insurance company totaled the car, wrote me a check for $2400, and then allowed me to buy the car back for $400.

i still drive the car everyday, and have actually made money on it. i love it.

[Red88Carrera]

Spark plugs are amazing! I had a skip in my Jeep Liberty at 130k miles. Changed the original plugs, runs great. Old plugs had gaps over .090".

[Heel n Toe]

High energy ignition F T W!

[jwhcars]

I am amazed at how proud you are of your neglect. Do you you treat your aircraft the same way? I have read many a thread on the various projects you have done and have been impressed with the apparent attention to detail and quality .... this is not one of them.

[ben parrish]

Originally Posted by jwhcars

I am amazed at how proud you are of your neglect. Do you you treat your aircraft the same way? I have read many a thread on the various projects you have done and have been impressed with the apparent attention to detail and quality .... this is not one of them.

Come on man, relax. Spark plugs should last that long..oil changes can go 15k in the right environment. My VW only calls for it every 10k to keep the warranty. What is really foolish is wasting money on un-needed maintenance. Do you have any 300k vehicles? Obviously he is taking good care of the car. I am amazed that so many people buy in to the 3k oil changes and the 15k plug changes...good for the oil and plug companies I guess and it doesn't hurt the car........

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

Come on man, relax. Spark plugs should last that long..

Depends on the era of the engine. Going 100,000 miles or even 150,000 miles in a less than ten year old car is most likely fine. However in my 1977 911 they get changed every year or every 3,000 miles.

I had a small issue with my S-10 pick up, the gap on the solid copper NKG's did not cover over the ground electrode as much/well as I would have liked once opened up to spec. Maybe some of the fancier plugs have a longer ground electrode, if so I will be using them next time.



Tim, you do need to change those plugs more often it seems.

[lm6y]

I am amazed at how proud you are of your neglect. Do you you treat your aircraft the same way? I have read many a thread on the various projects you have done and have been impressed with the apparent attention to detail and quality .... this is not one of them.

Ouch. I'm sure Tim is going to lose sleep over this. He just told us all that this car is his beater, so lighten up Francis. I'd be willing to bet he takes better care of his non beaters than you do.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by jwhcars

I am amazed at how proud you are of your neglect. Do you you treat your aircraft the same way? I have read many a thread on the various projects you have done and have been impressed with the apparent attention to detail and quality .... this is not one of them.

My aircraft plugs get blasted and re-gapped at every annual inspection whether they have 20 hrs on them or 100.

Yes I am very proud of my "neglect" involving this particular car which became my daily beater driver at about 225k mileage when my wife decided she should have a car with less mileage on it to daily drive. I have repaired many small things on this car over the years that are common wear items (struts, ball joints, tie rods, brakes, belts etc). This car still has it's original tranny and rear end oil in it (just thought you should know... hope it fails to impress you even more ).

I drive 80 miles round trip daily to work and while I do drive my 18 mpg SC and my even worse gas mileage Tundra some days, I kind of enjoy driving my old BMW which gets high 20's..... If it dies tomorrow, I would not shed a tear as it has delivered great value over it's 12 yrs of service to our family. When it dies, I have both of my daughter's 924s waiting in the wings to serve as my next daily drivers. Both of them have tons of miles on them and both run and drive perfect (guess who has maintained them for years?). I have never had a car payment in my life... I have owned and maintained german cars almost exclusively for 27 years and other than tires and AC recharging once (I now do my own AC work), I have never paid a mechanic or body shop to do any work on them (I have diagnostic software for BMW's and VW/Audi). Other than my wife's POS Audi and one dead battery in my BMW, none of my old German cars have left me or my family stranded yet all o them were bought cheap initially with issues.

I would put my mechanical aptitude up against ANYONE including professional mechanics.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by jwhcars

I am amazed at how proud you are of your neglect. Do you you treat your aircraft the same way? I have read many a thread on the various projects you have done and have been impressed with the apparent attention to detail and quality .... this is not one of them.

Oh yeah, that whole thing about being smart is way over-rated. He should be throwing money away doing dumb things that jiffy lube and pep boys tell him to do!

Seriously, what he could have done is take some fine grit sandpaper to those plugs and re-gap them and put them back in and get another 40k out of em.

The manufacturer on my last truck said not to touch the plugs for over 110k IIRC. No gapping, nothing. Just replace them when the odo gets to the magic number.
That was a toyota tundra BTW.

If I were smart I would have completely ignored the manufacturer's recommendations and spent a whole bunch of money on stuff that doesn't make any difference!

Modern engines do not dirty up oil like cars did 30 years ago. changing the oil every 3000 miles is just stupid. Changing it every 6000 miles is almost as wasteful, 7500 miles is probably overly-cautious. 15k may be pushing it a little, every 10k would probably be the most logical.
Oil filters do not get dirty on modern engines yet people throw them away and replace at every oil change. Why? Because that's what they say to do on TV commercials.

[jwhcars]

Originally Posted by ben parrish

Come on man, relax. Spark plugs should last that long..oil changes can go 15k in the right environment. My VW only calls for it every 10k to keep the warranty. What is really foolish is wasting money on un-needed maintenance. Do you have any 300k vehicles? Obviously he is taking good care of the car. I am amazed that so many people buy in to the 3k oil changes and the 15k plug changes...good for the oil and plug companies I guess and it doesn't hurt the car........

I knew that I would get some flame posting a negative comment against one of the big time posters.
I am well aware of being able to extend time between oil changes. I have read the reports and have sent oil out to see the results for my self. Have you ?
I have family members that have had Volvo, VW and Toyota with 189k to 365k most where purchased new or with less than 20k.
The one 740 turbo wagon dropped the lower part of the spark plug into the engine at around 245k. Perhaps if the plugs where changed or at least cleaned and checked this car would not have need repaired.
Checking the gap and cleaning the plugs is good maintenance not doing so is neglect.
One may as well justify driving any vehicle until it stops by trying to save a dollar.
Why change oil when you can just keep adding oil?
Extending service intervals and parts replacement beyond factory recommend intervals can be done if one checks things regularly and cleans or replaces items as needed. IMO this was just neglect plain and simple.
Does Tim have the skill and know how to properly maintain a vehicle .....I have no doubt in my mind that he does. It appears that at least this car is not one of his priorities to do so.

[livi]

Thats very promising, Tim!
I traded my Grand Cherokee and got a BMW E36 320i 1998 model last year. One owner, yes an old lady, with only 30k miles on it. As new in and out. A brilliant little car to drive. Here is hoping for another 270k miles!

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by jwhcars

IMO this was just neglect plain and simple.
Does Tim have the skill and know how to properly maintain a vehicle .....I have no doubt in my mind that he does. It appears that at least this car is not one of his priorities to do so.

While I admit this car (which I am now the sole driver of... my wife and kids drive newer less mileage cars) gets less attention than my multiple other vehicles/projects, you would be wrong to claim I am guilty of "neglecting" it completely. I replaced a seized throwout bearing in it this past year (yeah I put a new clutch in it also even though the original still had some life in it based on thickness measurements in the Bentley manual ) , I made an upper rear shock bushing for it 2 weeks ago as it was clunking and this past winter I begrudgingly installed a new blower fan in it as the brushes were worn out and I got too lazy to rip it apart to repair it.

The difference with this car compared to all my others is that I am trying to convince myself that someday I will "let" it die due to a major problem or rust instead of continuing to fix/drive it. Who knows, if it hits 400k I may change my mind and decide to drive it to 500k as a challenge.

[peppy]

I find it very comforting to have a car you really just don't care about. I guess that is why we call them beaters.

[Embraer]

Here's my beater. Yes..I drive this to work instead of the British, German, or Italian cars in the garages.

Notice the chicken wire grill, Harbor Freight turn signals, and fence latch as the hood latch.

...oh and yeah, that's not paint....it's covered in PVC rubberized undercoating.

It's kind of a running joke with pilots.....see who can get the crappiest airport car.

This one just won't die, though....

[James Brown]

I blast and clean and gap and ohm all my clients aircraft plugs every 100 hrs and/or at annual. 95% of the time there just fine. only replace if they fail inspection. Most have been going strong for many years and most likely will last longer than me! I pulled my Dodge plugs at 50K just because I wanted to see them. They were great so back in they went. Should get another 50K out of them.

[lm6y]

I knew that I would get some flame posting a negative comment against one of the big time posters.

No, you got flamed because you posted a stupid comment. If anyone wants to strain their old engine oil through a coffee filter and re-use it, why is it any business of yours? Why not say to each their own and let it go?

[A930Rocket]

My F150 calls for plugs to be changed every 100k. I changed mine, but they looked great.

[VINMAN]

Originally Posted by jwhcars

I am amazed at how proud you are of your neglect. Do you you treat your aircraft the same way? I have read many a thread on the various projects you have done and have been impressed with the apparent attention to detail and quality .... this is not one of them.

Lighten up Francis!!








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